Delivering Notification Information

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/623,618, filed Apr. 1, 2024, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/057,806, filed Mar. 1, 2016 (now U.S. Pat. No. 11,979,470), each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

In current information distribution networks, such as the Internet, notification messages, such as weather alerts and public safety messages, may be retrieved individually by each client device. In a typical implementation, an application, such as a web browser on a personal computer, may poll a notification message server to check for the availability of a notification message, for example, an emergency alert system (EAS) message. The application may poll the server periodically, in order to retrieve the notification message in a timely manner. When a notification message becomes available, the application may retrieve the notification message for presentation to a user. Some types of notification messages, such as emergency alert messages, are intended to be delivered to all available devices within a particular area, such as a county or city, for example. Therefore, once the notification message becomes available at the server, a large number of devices may attempt to download the message within a short time period. This may overload or otherwise cause congestion on the information distribution network, possibly preventing some devices from retrieving the notification message in a timely manner.

There is a need for an improved method for the distribution of these and other services.

In light of the foregoing background, the following presents a simplified summary of the present disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects described herein. This summary is not an extensive overview, and is not intended to identify key or critical elements or to delineate the scope of the claims. The following summary merely presents various described aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description provided below.

In some aspects of the disclosure, a multicast gateway in an information distribution network may join a multicast group in order to receive notification messages. In some embodiments, the multicast gateway may modify a manifest file associated with programming content being provided to a client device, such as an IPTV device, to distribute notification message content. In an embodiment, the multicast gateway may replace information in the manifest file related to one or more segments of a program being served to the client, to cause the client to retrieve segments of the notification message content.

In aspects of the disclosure, a multicast gateway may receive notification message content via a first multicast group and receive program content via a second multicast group.

In some embodiments, one or more content segments may be replaced with notification or alert related segments, such as notification message audio or video content. In some embodiments, content segments may be replaced with notification content segments of the same or similar content type.

In some aspects of the disclosure, notification message content may be distributed via multicast to a multicast gateway. In some aspects, the multicast gateway may cache the notification message content and provide the notification message content from the cache in response to a request for the notification message content.

In the following description of various illustrative embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown, by way of illustration, various embodiments in which aspects of the disclosure may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural and functional modifications may be made, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

1 FIG. 100 100 100 101 102 103 103 101 102 illustrates an example information distribution networkon which many of the various features described herein may be implemented. The networkmay be any type of information distribution network, such as satellite, telephone, cellular, wireless, etc. One example may be a wireless network, an optical fiber network, a coaxial cable network, or a hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) distribution network. Such networksuse a series of interconnected communication links(e.g., coaxial cables, optical fibers, wireless, etc.) to connect multiple premises(e.g., businesses, homes, consumer dwellings, etc.) to a local office(e.g., a headend, a processing facility, etc.). The local officemay transmit downstream information signals onto the links, and each premisesmay have a receiver used to receive and process those signals.

101 103 102 103 101 101 There may be one linkoriginating from the local office, and it may be split a number of times to distribute the signal to various premisesin the vicinity (which may be many miles) of the local office. The linksmay include components not illustrated, such as splitters, filters, amplifiers, etc. to help convey the signal clearly, but in general each split introduces a bit of signal degradation. Portions of the linksmay also be implemented with fiber-optic cable, while other portions may be implemented with coaxial cable, other lines, or wireless communication paths.

103 104 101 105 107 102 103 108 103 109 109 108 109 The local officemay include an interface, such as a termination system (TS), for example a cable modem termination system (CMTS) in an example of an HFC-type network, which may be a computing device configured to manage communications between devices on the network of linksand backend devices such as servers-(to be discussed further below). In the example of an HFC-type network, the TS may be as specified in a standard, such as the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) standard, published by Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (a.k.a. CableLabs), or it may be a similar or modified device instead. The TS may be configured to place data on one or more downstream frequencies to be received by modems at the various premises, and to receive upstream communications from those modems on one or more upstream frequencies. The local officemay also include one or more network interfaces, which can permit the local officeto communicate with various other external networks. These networksmay include, for example, Internet Protocol (IP) networks Internet devices, telephone networks, cellular telephone networks, fiber optic networks, local wireless networks (e.g., WiMAX), satellite networks, and any other desired network, and the interfacemay include the corresponding circuitry needed to communicate on the network, and to other devices on the network such as a cellular telephone network and its corresponding cell phones.

103 105 107 103 105 105 102 102 103 106 106 106 As noted above, the local officemay include a variety of servers-that may be configured to perform various functions. For example, the local officemay include a push server. The push servermay generate push notifications to deliver data and/or commands to the various premisesin the network (or more specifically, to the devices in the premisesthat are configured to detect such notifications). The local officemay also include a content server. The content servermay be one or more computing devices that are configured to provide content to users in the homes. This content may be, for example, video on demand movies, television programs, songs, audio, services, information, text listings, etc. In some embodiments, the content servermay include software to validate (or initiate the validation of) user identities and entitlements, locate and retrieve (or initiate the locating and retrieval of) requested content, encrypt the content, and initiate delivery (e.g., streaming, transmitting via a series of content fragments) of the content to the requesting user and/or device.

103 107 107 102 The local officemay also include one or more application servers. An application servermay be a computing device configured to offer any desired service, and may run various languages and operating systems (e.g., servlets and JSP pages running on Tomcat/MySQL, OSX, BSD, Ubuntu, Red Hat Linux, HTML5, JavaScript, AJAX and COMET). For example, an application server may be responsible for collecting television program listings information and generating a data download for electronic program guide listings. Another application server may be responsible for monitoring user media habits and collecting that information for use in selecting advertisements. Another application server may be responsible for formatting and inserting advertisements in a video stream and/or content item being transmitted to the premises. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the same application server may be responsible for one or more of the above listed responsibilities.

102 110 101 103 110 101 101 110 111 111 110 103 111 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 a An example premisesmay include an interface(such as a modem, or another receiver and/or transmitter device suitable for a particular network), which may include transmitters and receivers used to communicate on the linksand with the local office. The interfacemay be, for example, a coaxial cable modem (for coaxial cable lines), a fiber interface node (for fiber optic lines), or any other desired modem device. The interfacemay be connected to, or be a part of, a gateway interface device. The gateway interface devicemay be a computing device that communicates with the interfaceto allow one or more other devices in the home to communicate with the local officeand other devices beyond the local office. The gateway interface devicemay be a set-top box (STB), digital video recorder (DVR), computer server, or any other desired computing device. The gateway interface devicemay also include (not shown) local network interfaces to provide communication signals to other devices in the home (e.g., user devices), such as televisions, additional STBs, personal computers, laptop computers, wireless devices(wireless laptops, tablets and netbooks, mobile phones, mobile televisions, personal digital assistants (PDA), etc.), telephones, window security sensors, door home security sensors, tablet computers, personal activity sensors, video cameras, motion detectors, microphones, and/or any other desired computers, sensors, and/or other devices. Examples of the local network interfaces may include Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) interfaces, Ethernet interfaces, universal serial bus (USB) interfaces, wireless interfaces (e.g., IEEE 802.11), Bluetooth interfaces, and others.

2 FIG. 200 200 201 201 202 203 204 205 200 206 207 208 200 209 210 209 210 101 109 illustrates general hardware elements of an example computing devicethat can be used to implement any of the elements discussed herein and/or illustrated in the figures. The computing devicemay include one or more processors, which may execute instructions of a computer program to perform any of the features described herein. The instructions may be stored in any type of computer-readable medium or memory, to configure the operation of the processor. For example, instructions may be stored in a read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), removable media, such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) drive, compact disk (CD) or digital versatile disk (DVD), floppy disk drive, or any other desired electronic storage medium. Instructions may also be stored in an attached (or internal) storage(e.g., hard drive, flash, etc.). The computing devicemay include one or more output devices, such as a display(or an external television), and may include one or more output device controllers, such as a video processor and/or audio processor. There may also be one or more user input devices, such as a remote control, keyboard, mouse, touch screen, microphone, camera, etc. The computing devicemay also include one or more network interfaces, such as input/output circuits(such as a network card) to communicate with an external network. The network interface may be a wired interface, wireless interface, or a combination of the two. In some embodiments, the interfacemay include a modem (e.g., a cable modem), and the networkmay include the communication linksdiscussed above, the external network, an in-home network, a provider's wireless, coaxial, fiber, or hybrid fiber/coaxial distribution system (e.g., a DOCSIS network), or any other desired network.

2 FIG. 2 FIG. 201 202 205 Theexample is an example hardware configuration. Modifications may be made to add, remove, combine, divide, etc. components as desired. Additionally, the components illustrated may be implemented using basic computing devices and components, and the same components (e.g., processor, storage, user interface, etc.) may be used to implement any of the other computing devices and components described herein. For example, the various components herein may be implemented using computing devices having components such as a processor executing computer-executable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium, as illustrated in.

200 One or more aspects of the disclosure may be embodied in computer-usable data and/or computer-executable instructions, such as in one or more program modules, executed by one or more computers (such as computing device) or other devices to perform any of the functions described herein. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types when executed by a processor in a computer or other data processing device. The computer executable instructions may be stored on one or more computer readable media such as a hard disk, optical disk, removable storage media, solid state memory, RAM, etc. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments. In addition, the functionality may be embodied in whole or in part in firmware or hardware equivalents such as integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), and the like. Example data structures may be used to illustrate one or more aspects described herein, but these are merely illustrative examples.

3 FIG. 300 302 302 302 302 illustrates an example network configurationin accordance with one or more aspects as described herein. In some embodiments, content, such as program content, may be received at a transcoder, for example, by wired or wireless means. For example, channels, such as linear channels, may be received via one or more antennas, receivers or via a cable such as a coaxial cable. The transcodermay be an adaptive bit rate (ABR) MPEG-4 transcoder, for example. In some embodiments, the transcodermay transcode the channels into encoded streams of digital data according to the MPEG-4 standard. In some embodiments, the transcodermay provide an encoding function, for example, when a channel is received as an analog channel. In some embodiments, the transcoder may provide multiple encoded streams for a particular channel. For example, the transcoder may output three streams of data for a particular channel, where each stream may have a different bit rate encoding. Continuing the example, the transcoder may output encoded streams having bit rates of 6250 kbps, 3480 kbps and 1663 kbps, for example. Those skilled in the art will realize that any number of streams may be output by the transcoder for a particular channel, and each stream may have any of a number of desired bit rate encodings.

302 116 112 1 FIG. In some embodiments, the bit rate used for encoding by the transcodermay depend on the type of content or a quality of the content. In other examples, the bit rate may be selected based on the intended use of the resulting encoded content. For example, various bit rate encodings may be used to create streams of content appropriate for presentation on a range of devices, including the wireless devicesand televisionsof. A channel may include audio and video content. Audio and video content may be encoded at the same bit rate or they may be encoded at different bit rates.

302 304 304 304 304 One or more of the encoded streams output by the transcodermay be provided to a content packager. In some embodiments, the content packagermay package one or more encodings of a transcoded channel according to the Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH) specification. In other embodiments, the content packagermay package one or more encodings of a transcoded channel according to HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), HTTP dynamic streaming (HDS), Microsoft's Smooth Streaming, or other adaptive bitrate streaming protocol. In some embodiments, the content packagermay divide an encoded stream into segments of equal play time, for example, 2 second segments, and store each segment for retrieval by a client device. The number of bits in any segment may depend on the bit rate encoding used by the transcoder in creating the stream. For any channel, segments may be created of each bit rate encoded stream.

304 306 The content packagermay create a manifest file, also be referred to as a media presentation description (MPD) file, which may provide one or more URLs indicating access locations for the segments, including segments from each bit rate encoded stream. In some embodiments, a multicast servermay perform content packaging.

304 The manifest file may be updated continuously by the content packager as the encoded streams are received by the content packagerand segments are created.

304 305 306 308 306 In some embodiments, the manifest file and segments may be stored by the content packager, either locally or at a remote device, such as at a server. The manifest file and segments may be transmitted via a content delivery networkto the multicast serverfor storage and distribution to one or more multicast gateways. The manifest file and segments may be provided to the multicast serverin various ways, including multicast, unicast and via known file transfer protocols.

306 307 101 308 306 106 1 FIG. 1 FIG. The multicast servermay distribute the manifest file and the segments, for example, via multicast on an access network(which may correspond to linksof), to one or more multicast gateways. In some embodiments, the multicast servermay correspond to the content serverof.

308 306 308 308 308 310 308 208 307 308 102 308 111 3 FIG. 1 FIG. 1 FIG. a The multicast gatewaymay join one or more multicast groups in order to receive MPD files and content segments transmitted by the multicast server. Although one each of the multicast gateway and multicast server are depicted in, in various implementations one or more of the multicast gateway and the multicast server may be provided. For example, any multicast gatewaymay receive manifest files and/or segments from more than one multicast server. In some embodiments, the multicast gatewaymay join one or more multicast groups upon initialization. In other embodiments, the multicast gatewaymay join one or more multicast groups in response to receiving a request for content from an external device, such as a device. In still other embodiments, the multicast gatewaymay join one or more multicast groups upon receiving an instruction or command from one or more external devices, such as a user input devices (for example deviceof) or a device located on the network. In some embodiments, one or more multicast gatewaysmay be positioned in each user premises. For example, the multicast gatewaymay correspond to the gatewayof. In various embodiments, the multicast gateway and may include audio/visual user interface capabilities (e.g. “headed”) or may be provided without audio/visual interfaces (e.g. “headless”).

310 308 310 310 One or more devicesmay request content from the multicast gateway. In some embodiments, the devicemay correspond to an IPTV player. In some embodiments, the devicemay request content through the use of HTTP streaming, for example, by making requests conforming to the MPEG DASH specification. According to the MPEG-DASH specification, an MPEG-DASH content server may provide a list of available segment URLs in a Media Presentation Description (MPD) manifest file, requested by a DASH client. The DASH client may then request the segments using the URLs from the MPD file as needed in order to provide playback of the media content.

310 310 310 In some embodiments, the devicemay request a manifest file for a particular channel, such as a linear channel. A linear channel may represent scheduled programming for a particular channel and may include live and/or recorded programs. For example, the devicemay request the manifest file by using an HTTP GET request to request the manifest file by name as part of a uniform resource locator (URL). Since the manifest file for live channels may be updated continuously, the devicemay fetch the manifest repeatedly, for example, at timed intervals, in order to retrieve an updated version in a timely manner. The timed interval may be based on the elapsed time since the previous fetch or the interval may be based on information contained within the manifest file itself, for example, a fetch frequency or an interval to the next fetch of the manifest file.

310 310 310 206 2 FIG. In some embodiments, the manifest file may contain segment information such as links (URLs) to segments of the content of the channel at various bit rate encodings. Once the devicehas retrieved the manifest file, the URL for a particular content segment may be read from the manifest file. The devicemay then request one or more of the content segments. Upon receipt of the content segment(s), the devicemay provide the segments for presentation via a presentation device, such as the displayof.

306 312 306 312 312 306 312 306 312 306 314 In some embodiments, the multicast servermay retrieve notification system messages or other form of notification system content (such as audio or video, or combinations of any form of content) from a notification server. Notification system message content may include content of various notification messages, such as Emergency Action Notifications (EAN), local weather alerts, Child Abduction Emergency (CAE) alerts and other local, regional or national alert messages. The multicast servermay poll the notification serverto check for the presence of one or more notification messages. In some embodiments, the notification servermay transmit a notification message to the multicast server, without the multicast server polling for the message. In some embodiments, the notification servermay transmit an alert to indicate that a notification message is available and, in response, the multicast servermay retrieve the notification message from the notification server. In still other embodiments, the multicast servermay receive a command or instruction from a multicast controller, and in response retrieve the notification content. In various embodiments, the notification content may be stored for retrieval by various other servers or storage devices. In various embodiments, the term “notification message” may be used to describe a notification message and its contents.

306 308 308 306 306 306 After retrieval of the notification message, the multicast servermay multicast the notification message, or portions thereof, to one or more multicast gateways. In some embodiments, the multicast gatewaymay join one or more multicast groups in order to receive notification system message content. In some embodiments, the multicast servermay multicast the notification message using a different multicast address than it uses for distributing non-notification content. In some embodiments, the multicast servermay multicast the notification message using one or more multicast addresses that are reserved for notification message content. In some embodiments, the multicast servermay multicast the notification message using one or more multicast addresses that it may use for distributing other types of content.

308 310 308 308 310 308 308 310 310 308 310 Upon receiving notification message content, the multicast gatewaymay manipulate the content of a channel or program being delivered to the device. In some embodiments, the multicast gatewaymay modify a manifest file of a channel, creating a modified manifest file, by replacing a reference to a content item of the channel or program with a reference to content of the notification message. For example, the multicast gatewaymay be streaming content, such as live programing, to the device. The content may include a manifest file and various content segments, for example, according to the MPEG-DASH standard. Upon receiving the notification message content, the multicast gatewaymay be in progress delivering the live programing. The multicast gatewaymay modify the manifest file of the live programing to reference a segment of the notification message content, replacing a reference to a portion of the live programing. Therefore, when the deviceretrieves the manifest file for the live programing, one or more references to the notification message content may be contained in the manifest file. Upon processing the modified manifest file, the devicemay fetch one or more segments of notification message content and provide the segments to a presentation device, where the segments may be presented to a user. In some embodiments, the multicast gatewaymay cache the notification message content in cache memory for later retrieval by the device.

308 308 310 308 310 In some embodiments, the multicast gatewaymay replace similar types of content in the manifest file with notification message content while leaving other types of content unmodified. For example, the multicast gatewaymay be streaming a program, which may include video and audio, to the device. After receiving a notification message containing audio content, the multicast gatewaymay modify the manifest file of the program so that references to audio segments of the program are replaced with references to the audio content of the notification message. In such an embodiment, the devicemay then retrieve video segments of the program and audio segments of the notification message content. When presented to a viewer, the video content of the program would be visible while the audio of the notification message is sounded. References to content of other types (video, text, for example) may be similarly replaced by references to similarly typed content of the notification message, if such content is available as part of the notification message. In some embodiments, references to segments at one or more bit rate encodings may be replaced with references to notification message content.

308 In some embodiments, the notification message may include a content type that is not part of a program in progress, for example, a notification message may include text content while the program in progress may consist of audio and video content. In these embodiments, the multicast gatewaymay add the content type to the manifest file of the program. Continuing the example, references to the notification message textual content may be added to the manifest file for the program.

308 There are various ways in which the multicast gatewaymay determine a content type. In some embodiments, the content type may be determined from information contained in the manifest file. For example, information for one or more segments may be preceded by <ContentComponent contentType=“video” id=“1” />, indicating that the segments following are video. In another example, information for one or more segments may be preceded by <ContentComponent contentType=“audio” id=“2” />, indicating that the segments following are audio. The content type of notification message content may be indicated in a similar manner, for example, by the inclusion of XML markup describing the content type.

308 308 In some embodiments, segment files containing the notification message content may be stored by the multicast gateway, replacing previously stored media content segment files. For example, a media content file may have been stored by the multicast gatewaywith the file name media_segment1. A segment file of the notification message content may be stored using the same file name, replacing the segment file of the media content. This allows the manifest file to remain unchanged while still delivering the notification message content to any client requesting the manifest file.

308 310 310 In some embodiments, the multicast gatewaymay respond to a request for the manifest file by providing a URL redirection (URL forwarding) response indicating the location of a manifest file associated with notification message content. For example, the URL redirection may cause the deviceto issue a subsequent request to obtain the manifest file from the URL in the redirection message. When presented to a user of the device, the effect may be similar to a forced channel tune, as may be seen in legacy EAS broadcast systems.

308 310 310 308 In some embodiments, the multicast gatewaymay substitute the manifest requested by the devicewith a manifest of the notification message content. For example, if the devicerequests a manifest file corresponding to a program while a notification message has been received at the multicast gateway, the multicast gateway may respond to the request by providing a manifest file corresponding to the notification message content. In some embodiments, subsequent to expiry of the notification message, the multicast gateway may resume delivery of the manifest file corresponding to the program.

314 312 308 314 306 308 In some embodiments, the multicast controllermay determine an area corresponding to a region in which a notification message should be distributed. For example, it may be determined that the notification message has been targeted to a particular city or county. In some embodiments, this information may be provided by the notification server. If it is determined that the location of the multicast gatewayis within the area for distribution of the notification message, the multicast controllermay cause the multicast serverto multicast the notification message content and the multicast gateway may modify the manifest file as disclosed herein to provide the notification message content. If it is determined that the location of the multicast gatewayis not within the area for distribution of the notification message, the multicast gateway may provide the manifest file without modification.

314 310 308 310 In some embodiments, the multicast controllermay determine that a zip code corresponding to the deviceor the multicast gatewayis located within, or overlapping, the county or city information of the notification message and provide the notification message content to the device.

314 306 308 314 In some embodiments, the multicast controllermay provide information to the multicast serverso that it may retrieve the notification message content that is appropriate for the locations of the multicast gateways. The multicast controllermay be notified of the availability of notification message content via an event or other message, for example transmitted by the notification server.

308 In some embodiments, the multicast gatewaymay determine a time period in which the notification message content should be provided and the manifest file may be modified in response to determining time period. For example, notification message content may be valid for delivery for a particular time span, such as thirty minutes from the time it was received by the multicast gateway. As an example, a weather-related notification would not be useful if received a day after a storm has passed.

308 308 In some embodiments, the multicast gatewaymay modify the manifest file in response to determining a priority of the notification message. For example, in some embodiments the notification messages may include information indicating a level of importance of the notification message. In various embodiments, the multicast gatewaymay provide the notification message content at a later time so as not to interrupt or disturb a viewer of a program until the program has ended.

308 308 The methods as disclosed herein may also be applied to video on demand (VOD) programming. With VOD programming, the manifest file may not be periodically updated as it is in the case for linear programming. Segments of VOD content may be created and stored for later retrieval. The manifest file may be created at the time that the VOD content is stored. In some embodiments, multicast gatewaymay use any of the methods as disclosed herein to cause the replacement of a segment of VOD programming with a segment of notification message content. In some embodiments, the multicast gatewaymay pause the delivery of VOD programming so that the notification message content may be provided, without causing a viewer to miss segments of the VOD programming.

308 310 312 310 312 310 310 312 3 FIG. In some embodiments, the multicast gatewayand/or the devicemay poll the notification serverperiodically to check for the availability of a notification message. For example, the devicemay poll the notification serverevery 15 seconds to check for the availability of a notification message. If, in response, the deviceis informed that a notification message is available, the devicemay retrieve the message from a location in the network configuration depicted in, such as from the notification server.

310 312 310 306 305 308 In some embodiments, the notification message may be provided to a component in the network path between the deviceand the notification serverfor caching and later delivery to a requesting device, such as the device. For example, the notification message may be provided to the multicast gateway or to the multicast server, as described above. In some embodiments, the notification message may be multicast by the multicast serverthrough the networkand may be received by the multicast gateway, which may be configured to receive messages on a particular multicast address used for distribution of notification messages.

310 308 310 310 308 In some embodiments, polling or retrieval requests from the devicemay be intercepted by a component in the network path and the request may then be serviced by a transparent cache of that component, so that the request need not be sent onwards through the network, for example to the notification server. Continuing the example, the notification message may be received and cached by the multicast gateway, which may serve as a transparent cache. When the devicemakes a request to the notification server, the multicast gateway may provide the requested notification message to the device. As would be known by those skilled in the art, a transparent cache may enable delivery of requested content stored in the cache of a network component without requiring change or reconfiguration to the requesting device. For example, the devicemay send the request into the network directed to the notification server, but the request may be intercepted and the response provided by another network component, such as by the multicast gateway.

In some embodiments, providing the notification message for storage by the transparent cache of a component in the network may enable the notification message to be served from a location closer to the requesting device, thereby saving the request message (and the resulting response) from being sent across the network, thereby reducing traffic on the network and providing faster delivery.

308 308 310 In some embodiments, other types of content may be provided by use of the transparent cache in a network component, such as the multicast gateway. For example, advertisements may be distributed to the multicast gatewayand cached for later serving to the deviceupon request by the device for the advertisement. In other embodiments, software updates may be distributed for storage in a transparent cache as described above and provided to requesting devices.

306 312 314 308 306 In some embodiments, a transparent cache may be preloaded with content or a network component hosting the transparent cache may otherwise retrieve content, such as notification message content, advertisements or software updates, among others, for later delivery to other network components. For example, the multicast servermay be notified of the availability of a notification message and may retrieve the notification message from the notification server. In other embodiments, the multicast server may poll for the availability of a notification message. In various embodiments, the notification server, or other component related to a notification system, may provide notice to various network components, such as the multicast controller, the multicast gatewayor the multicast serverof the availability of a notification message. In response, the various network components may retrieve and store the notification message in local storage, such as in a cache, for use in providing to devices upon request.

310 310 312 310 308 310 In some other embodiments, a manifest file may be provided to the devicehaving instructions that cause the deviceto request the notification message content, for example from the notification server. For example, the devicemay be retrieving linear programming content via a manifest file from the multicast gatewayand may receive an instruction or link in the manifest file which causes the deviceto retrieve the notification message content. As described above, upon receiving the request for the notification message content, the multicast server may provide the notification message content from the transparent cache of the multicast gateway. The instruction or link of the above example may be placed into the manifest file by the multicast gateway or it may be placed in to the manifest file by another network component, for example, by the multicast server or other component.

4 FIG. 4 FIG. 4 FIG. 400 308 111 113 110 is an exemplary flow diagram illustrating an example methodin accordance with one or more disclosed features described herein. In one or more embodiments, the method illustrated inand/or one or more steps thereof may be performed by one or more computing devices (e.g., multicast gateway, gateway interface device, set-top box, interface, and the like). In other embodiments, the method illustrated inand/or one or more steps thereof may be embodied in computer-executable instructions that are stored in a computer-readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer-readable memory. The steps in this flow diagram need not all be performed in the order specified and some steps may be omitted and/or changed in order.

402 308 At step, a manifest file may be received, for example, by the multicast gateway. In some embodiments, the manifest file may represent access information associated with segments for a particular media program. In some embodiments, the media program may be content for a particular channel, such as a linear channel. In some embodiments, the manifest file may be received via a multicast group.

404 402 At step, the multicast gateway may receive notification message content. In some embodiments, the notification content may be received via a multicast group, which may be the same or different from the multicast group via which the manifest file was received in step. The notification message content may be composed of one or more content types, for example, the notification message content may be audio and/or a text.

406 310 310 310 310 310 At step, the manifest file may be modified to replace segment information, such as a URL reference to the segment. As described above, in some embodiments, program segment information may be replaced with notification message content segment information of the same or of a similar content type. The modified manifest file may be retrieved by the devicewhen it next requests the manifest file of the media program, thereby providing the devicewith the segment information for retrieval of the notification message content. It can be appreciated that the operation of the devicemay need no modification in order to support retrieval of notification message content. From the perspective of the device, it continues to retrieve manifest files and content of a media program. As disclosed herein, segments of the media program may be replaced with segments of notification message content, thereby causing the deviceto present notification message content along with, or instead of, media program content.

5 FIG. 502 306 304 308 illustrates an example of notification message content delivery, as described herein. In step, the multicast servermay transmit (and may continuously do so) one or more multicast feeds of program content, for example, content of a linear channel. These multicast feeds may contain items of content that have been provided by the packager, as discussed above. For example, the multicast feed may provide manifest files, manifest file updates and segments of content. The multicast server may transmit the multicast feeds in response to various commands, configuration settings or instructions. The multicast feeds may be received by the multicast gateway.

504 310 504 506 310 504 In step, the devicemay request content, such as content of a linear channel. For example, the content requested may correspond to one of the multicast streams being received by the multicast gateway. Although the stepsandrefer to content in general, it should be understood that the content request may represent a request for a manifest file and/or one or more segments of content. The devicemay request content periodically (e.g., every 10 seconds, etc.), in order to retrieve content, such as live content, in a timely manner. The device may make requests, such as depicted in stepperiodically as long as a viewer continues to watch or otherwise consume a particular program.

508 314 312 At step, a notification message may be provided to the multicast controllerby the notification server. In various embodiments, the notification message may be provided to other components in addition to or instead of to the multicast controller. In some embodiments, the one or more components in the network may poll the notification server for the notification message.

510 314 306 512 514 306 At step, the multicast controllermay inform the multicast serverthat a notification message is available for retrieval. At stepsand, the multicast servermay get and receive the notification message content. The notification message content may correspond to audio, video or text contents of the notification message.

516 306 306 At step, the multicast servermay transmit one or more multicast feeds of the notification message content. The multicast servermay transmit the notification message content on the same multicast feed as used for the program content or via a different multicast feed, for example, via a multicast feed reserved for notification message content.

518 308 502 308 In some embodiments, at step, the multicast gatewaymay modify a manifest file of the program content received in step. For example, the multicast gatewaymay replace segment information related to program content with segment information related to notification message content.

508 518 314 508 306 314 306 In some embodiments, any of steps-may depend on a target area associated with the notification message. For example, the multicast controllermay, after receiving the notification message in step, determine that the notification message content is not targeted to a geographical area served by the multicast serverand therefore the multicast controllermay not inform the multicast serverof the availability of the notification message content.

520 310 310 310 522 310 310 In step, the devicemay request content. As discussed above, the devicemay periodically request manifest files in order to retrieve content in a timely manner. Since the manifest file may have been modified in the previous step, the devicemay in stepretrieve the modified manifest file in which segment information related to notification message content is provided. Subsequent requests by the device for the segments referred to in the modified manifest file will provide the devicewith the notification message content and the devicemay provide the notification message content to a presentation device, for example, for viewing by a user.

6 FIG. 6 FIG. 6 FIG. 600 308 111 113 110 is an exemplary flow diagram illustrating another example methodin accordance with one or more disclosed features described herein. In one or more embodiments, the method illustrated inand/or one or more steps thereof may be performed by one or more computing devices (e.g., multicast gateway, gateway interface device, set-top box, interface, and the like). In other embodiments, the method illustrated inand/or one or more steps thereof may be embodied in computer-executable instructions that are stored in a computer-readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer-readable memory. The steps in this flow diagram need not all be performed in the order specified and some steps may be omitted and/or changed in order.

602 308 306 312 At step, notification message content may be received, for example, by the multicast gateway. The notification message content may be composed of one or more content types, for example, the notification message content may be audio and/or a text. In some embodiments, the notification message content may be received via a multicast group via a transmission from the multicast serveror from the notification server, for example.

604 308 At step, the notification message content may be stored. For example, the notification message content may be stored in cache memory of the multicast gateway.

606 308 310 312 606 608 At step, a request for the notification message content may be intercepted. For example, the request may be received by the multicast gatewayfrom the device. In some embodiments, the request may contain addressing information that indicates that the request should be forwarded to the notification serverfor handling. However, in step, the request may be intercepted, meaning that it need not be sent onwards to the notification server. Continuing to step, the request may be handled. For example, when the request is for notification message content that is currently cached in memory, the notification message content may be provided in response to the request.

7 FIG. 702 310 312 310 illustrates another example of notification message content delivery, as described herein. In step, the devicemay query the notification serverto check for the availability of a notification message. In some embodiments, the devicemay periodically check for the availability of notification messages, for example, every 15 seconds.

704 312 704 312 310 In step, the notification servermay send a response to the query. In the example shown in step, the notification servermay inform the devicethat no notification message is currently available.

706 314 312 314 At step, a notification message may be provided to the multicast controllerby the notification server. In various embodiments, the notification message may be provided to other components in addition to or instead of to the multicast controller. In some embodiments, the notification message may inform the multicast controllerof the availability of the notification message content.

708 314 306 710 712 306 At step, the multicast controllermay inform the multicast serverthat a notification message is available for retrieval. At stepsand, the multicast servermay request and receive the notification message content. The notification message content may correspond to audio, video or text contents of the notification message.

714 306 306 At step, the multicast servermay transmit one or more multicast transmissions of the notification message content. In some embodiments, the multicast servermay transmit the notification message content via a multicast address reserved for notification message content.

716 308 308 In some embodiments, at step, the multicast gatewaymay receive the notification message content, for example by monitoring a particular multicast address for notification message content, and store the notification message content. In some embodiments, the notification message content may be stored in cache memory of the multicast gateway.

718 310 312 At step, the devicemay again query the notification serverto check for the availability of a notification message.

720 312 720 312 310 At step, the notification servermay send a response to the query. In the example shown in step, the notification servermay inform the devicethat a notification message is currently available for retrieval.

722 310 At step, the devicemay attempt to retrieve the notification message content by sending a request directed to the notification server.

724 308 310 310 At step, the multicast gatewaymay intercept the request from the deviceand determine whether the requested notification message content is already available in cache memory. In some embodiments, the multicast gateway may locate a message ID contained in the request from the device and may use the message ID to find the corresponding message content in the cache memory. In other embodiments, information from one or more portions of a request URL provided by the devicemay be used to locate the requested notification message content stored in cache memory. If the requested notification message content is not located in cache memory of the multicast gateway, the request may be forwarded on for handling by the notification server.

726 310 At step, the multicast gateway may send a response to the devicecontaining the notification message content.

706 726 314 706 306 314 306 In some embodiments, any of steps-may depend on a target area associated with the notification message. For example, the multicast controllermay, after receiving the notification message in step, may determine that the notification message content is not targeted to a geographical area served by the multicast serverand therefore the multicast controllermay not inform the multicast serverof the availability of the notification message content.

310 As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the methods described herein allow several improvements to existing networks supporting distribution of notification message content. In some embodiments, various other services may be provided according to the methods as described herein. For example, software updates, channel lineup files and advertisements, among other things, may be distributed to the devicesin a bandwidth efficient manner using the methods as described above.

The descriptions above are merely example embodiments of various concepts. They may be rearranged/divided/combined as desired, and one or more components or steps may be added or removed without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. The scope of this patent should only be determined by the claims that follow.